Chapter 97: Love
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
There was a huge explosion in the room. The beams on the bed were hit by a blasting arrow and exploded immediately. A guy in black rushed into the room. He saw the beam flying towards the wardrobe. The upper part of the beams tied with a sheet were blown away, the rest of the beams and bed were burned with bright flames.
The guy in black was so shocked that he stood still there with cold sweat on his forehead. If the princess of Shansa Empire had been sleeping on that bed, she must have died. Even if it were him, he would have died in this attack. No wonder the king had asked him to work with Anfey and sent Black Twelve to him. Even Magic Fog organization was interested in him and tried to track him down. He suddenly realized all of these things happened for a reason. He had become a witness to Anfey’s exceptional power.
"I have to redo it. The height of this bed is not the same as the princess’s," the guy in black heard Anfey say behind him.
"I will send someone to check on that," the guy in black said quietly. His tone had changed and become more polite. A few days before, he had thought that the senior swordswoman was going to lead the assassination and Anfey was just an advisor. He was even not sure if Anfey was actually smart. He thought Anfey had asked about too many details. He even thought of Anfey in a bad light: thinking that Anfey might secretly want to know the princess’s panty style and color. Now he knew how ridiculous he had been.
"There are many things you need to double check. For example, the thickness and texture of princess’s bedroom wall and whether there are any hollow areas underneath the floor, especially under the furniture. They all need to be double checked," Anfey said.
"I got it." The guy in black nodded eagerly.
"I am not trying to give you a hard time. I did not know what would be useful or harmful for me. The more information I can have, the better control I will have. Would one day be enough for you to double check everything?" Anfey asked slowly.
"It will take at least two days." The guy in black showed a bitter smile on his face.
"Ok. Then two days." Anfey calculated in his mind and figured that he still should have enough time left.
"I have checked on the princess’s wagon route. Do you want me to tell you about it now?" If Anfey had not shown what he could do, this guy in black would only tell him a rough story when he was asked. It seemed that having strong power and ability was the easiest and most effective way everywhere to win others’ respect.
"Yes, tell me about it." Anfey turned around and walked outside. The black smoke in the room seemed to get stronger. He did not bother to put the fire out. This room was picked by the princess’s bodyguards to trick Anfey, so the size and standards were quite different than the real princess’s room. Anfey just let it burn down.
The guy in black followed Anfey. He said to Anfey, "I could only get so much information. If you think the information was not sufficient and needs to be reinvestigated, I am afraid that would take a long time." The guy in black wanted to let Anfey knew the situation in case Anfey was not happy with his work. It would put him in an awkward situation if he was asked to do the investigation again.
Anfey nodded. "It is fine. Just tell me what you have."
"There are about three thousand crew members along the princess’s wagon route. Most of them do not have combat powers. About six hundred of them are Shansa Empire warriors. They are very tough, and their mission is to take the princess to Blackwater City. They will go back to Shansa Empire once they complete their mission. There are two senior swordsmen, and some palace bodyguards in the retinue. They are nothing. Her servants are all muggle girls. We do not have to worry about them," the guy in black reported.
"Anything else?" Anfey asked.
"It’s pretty difficult to get the magic images you want. Maybe impossible to get," the guy in black answered.
"What do you mean: maybe impossible to get? Aren’t your crew still working on it? Can’t you even get the magic image of the princess?" Anfey asked.
"The princess’s magic image will be sent in tomorrow. I meant the magic images of powerful people," the guy in black replied.
Anfey was quiet for a second and said quietly, "Tell me more."
"The princess is a polite and quiet girl. She never dated anyone before. We got different information on the food she likes. If we put all the information together, it seems that the princess eats everything, but does not particularly like to eat anything. She admires the sealed barbarians’ archmage Richard in Ahdibaijan and hates her brother. She also likes to wear blue clothes," the guy in black said.
"Keep going." Anfey nodded.
"The princess’s wagons do not go very fast. They only travel about sixty miles a day and then they rest. I have marked every place they have rested. Here is the map." The guy in black took out a scroll from his shirt and passed it to Anfey. He continued, "About eight days ago, the princess’s wagons seemed to have some problems. They stayed three days in one place before restarting their journey. Her people kept what happened secret. My guys were not able to find out. We need more time on that."
Anfey opened the map and look at it under the moonlight. He pointed at the map and asked, "Is this the area where you think they will rest tomorrow?"
"Yes," the guy in black said.
"I have to do something tomorrow. If I have time, I hope we can go to a place together the day after tomorrow," Anfey said.
"Where?" the guy in black asked.
"To welcome the princess," Anfey said.
"Ok." The guy in black nodded.
"Any other information? If not, I will be going back now." Anfey put the map in his Dimensional Ring.
"I will let you know immediately when I know anything new," the guy in black said in a serious voice.
* * * *
When Anfey got back to the hotel, Riska and Sanchez were talking on the stairs to the third floor. It was their turn to be on watch that night. After experiencing some tough times, they all knew how to protect themselves. Even on the nights Anfey did not tell them to have someone on watch, they still voluntarily had someone on watch. On the days that Anfey kept himself in the room for the training, they did not let their guard down. It just showed they were maturing.
Riska smiled at Anfey and then shook his head, which meant nothing had happened.
"Where is Vonmerge? Did he come back yet?" Anfey asked.
"He came back shortly after you left." Riska smiled.
"Where is he now?" Anfey asked.
"Where else could he be? He is in Suzanna’s room." Sancheze ginned.
For the guys, some of them were jealous of other guys who could attract affection from girls. Some of them did not even dare to go after the girls they liked. Sanchez knew himself well. He admired the beauty of Niya and Suzanna, but he just thought about them and would never take action to go after them. Everyone knew there was no way Vonmerge could get Suzanna’s affection, but he kept trying, which bothered them.
"I am going to see him. You guys can continue your chat." Anfey nodded at them and walked in big strides to Suzanna’s room.
Anfey stopped at Suzanna’s room and knocked lightly on the door. Then he pushed the door open and walked in. Suzanna looked bored on the chair while Vonmerge was pacing back and forth, excitedly telling some story. He did not notice the unexpected guest, Anfey.
"Vonmerge, did you get the information I asked you to look for?" Anfey interrupted Vonmerge’s story telling.
"Huh, Anfey, I have looked for you several times. Don’t worry. I, Vonmerge, never make any mistakes. I got it," Vonmerge replied. In this potential mercenary legion, Suzanna was the first one he needed to get along. Anfey was the second one. Hagan is an alchemist. Every mercenary would like to recruit someone like him. Vonmerge was different. If Anfey wanted to kick him out, feeding himself would be a problem, not to mention seeing Suzanna again. Once he had accidentally stumbled into a dragon cave. He passed out 35 feet away from the dragon while the dragon release his dragon power. Later, when he woke up, he found his combat power was affected greatly. He was no longer able to gather all his combat power. He only had less than thirty percent of his combat power left. This was his secret. Since then he tried to avoid conflict with others. He had always been trying to convince his opponents by talking. Therefore, his sword skills had not improved, while his talking skills were fantastic.
"Let’s talk in my room." Anfey smiled.
"Ok." Vonmerge did not really want to leave, but he had to.
Suzanna heaved a long sigh and also stretched. "Vonmerge finally left," Suzanna thought to herself. She did not want to hurt anyone, but she did not realize that she might hurt him more by giving him hope.
Seeing Suzanna’s reaction, Anfey playfully winked at her. Suzanna blushed a little. She was surprised to see Anfey making any moves like this. She could feel the change in his personality. "Was it because we are getting more comfortable with each other?" Suzanna wondered.
"Vonmerge, take a seat and tell me about it." After they went to Anfey’s room, they immediately got to the point. "Did you draw anyone’s attention when you were trying to dig up the information?"
"No, I was very careful," Vonmerge answered quickly. "You have told me that it would affect the fate of the whole mercenary and Suzanna. I would not mess with it."
"Then tell me what you have found," Anfey said.
"They take a lot of missions every day. They assign many other things to themselves as well. We are not able to make it today, but they will have about thirty mercenary groups doing assignments tomorrow. Some of them will go to Forest of Death, some to Wild Prairie, some to White Mountain City, and some will escort businessmen on their trips. Anfey, what do you want to know?" Vonmerge asked.
"Let’s start with the weakest mercenary group," Anfey said.